Life at Parris Island: A Photographer`s Journal

Vol. 96 No. 15 April 7-April 13, 2005
© 2005 The Amsterdam News
The new Black view
75¢ New York City
$1.00 Outside N.Y.C.
National Urban League’s: State of Black America
BLACKS STILL LAG BEHIND
By CLOVER HOPE
Special to the AmNews
The stark reality of statistics and bare facts shows that
Black America is constantly
struggling to draw level with
whites in various facets of life.
Blacks still lag severely
behind economically and are
even deteriorating in certain
areas like health and employment, according to
the
National Urban League’s
“State of Black America: Prescriptions for Change” latest
2005 edition.
In addition to examining
racial disparities in America,
the Urban League’s report,
which was unveiled at the
National Press Club in Washington, D.C. this week, out-
Marc Morial, President and Chief Executive Officer of the
(Ken photo)
National Urban League
Bellevue backlog leaves
test subjects in jeopardy
By JOYCE MAYER
PERRY
minority clinic patients.
The allegations—made by
Special to the AmNews
staffers in the research departThousands of current ment at Bellevue Hospital—
cases of adverse drug-study have been substantiated by
results at New York City’s documents obtained by the
Bellevue Hospital have not New York Amsterdam News.
A New York City Comptrolbeen reviewed or examined
by Bellevue physicians, and ler’s Bureau of Management
are strewn in offices, closets audit revealed that medical
and bathrooms, which may be research conducted at Belleseriously jeopardizing the vue Hospital through its affililives of Bellevue’s mostly ation with the New York University Medical Center
was found non-compliant
with regulations governing the testing of subjects.
The audit determined
that Bellevue/NYU procedures were in violation in
the processing of new and
renewal
approvals,
research implementation,
and monitoring serious
drug-study-related
adverse effects.
A sampling of 11 documents reveal that volUnattended boxes sit in full view untary patients have
at Bellevue Hospital
(Continued on Page 41)
lines solutions needed to
break the racial divide and
offers commentary on issues
that plague the Black community.
“The truth is there’s been
gains over the last 40 years
but we’ve not caught up,” said
Marc Morial, President and
Chief Executive Officer of the
National
Urban
League.
“There’s still a considerable
amount of work to do.”
The widest discrepancy
exists in economics, where the
racial gap is twice as large as
the education or health gap,
Morial noted. The report’s
accompanying “State of Black
America Report’s Equality
Index” indicated that the overall status of Blacks has
remained relatively constant
since last year, at 73 percent of
whites, with the widest disparity existing in the economic
domain. The economic status
for Blacks is 57 percent of
whites while the employment
gap is on the decline with only
slight progress.
“Economics drives the country,” said Morial, who formerly
served as mayor of New
Orleans. “We want Black people to recognize we’ve got to
focus on economics because
that’s the new civil rights
issue.”
Morial said he thought the
most significant findings in
the report were the increasing
gap in the unemployment rate
(Continued on Page 40)
Life at Parris Island:
A photographer’s journal
By DAMASO REYES
Special to the AmNews
BEUFORT, S.C. — “Teamwork is the foundation of my
Marine Corps! Teamwork,
therefore, will be the basis of
your training while you are
here! From this point forward
you will eat, sleep, breathe and
train teamwork! The words ‘I,’
‘me’ and ‘we’ are no longer in
your vocabulary! These words
will be replaced by this recruit,
that recruit and these recruits!
Do you understand? DO YOU
UNDERSTAND!”
Welcome to Parris Island,
where Marines are made.
The two dozen or so recruits
who just got off the bus had
already been up since the early
morning hours, and most probably hadn’t slept much the night
before. Dressed for the last time
in civilian clothing they won’t
see again for three months,
none were prepared for Staff
Sergeant Patrick K. Wiley and
what he had to say.
Whatever they thought
Physical training or PT is an integral part of the three month
(Damaso Reyes photo)
basic training program.
about the United States Marine
Corps, they were in for a rude
awakening when they got off
the bus at 10 pm and stepped
into the cool South Carolina air.
These raw young men will not
sleep for the next 36 hours as
they are processed and given
everything they will need to live
for the next twelve weeks.
1.8 MILLION NEW YORKERS
WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE
Urban Agenda by David R. Jones
Community Service Society of New York President
see Page 5
If Parris Island is the anvil,
drill instructors like Sgt. Wiley
are the hammer with which
Marines are forged. The sign
leading to the base reads: “Parris Island: We Make Marines”
not teach, not help them to
learn. Here they make Marines,
nothing more, nothing less.
(Continued on Page 29)
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
April 7-April 13, 2005
29
Marines
(Continued from Page 1)
“As stressful and as hard as
recruit training is, my goal is to
make Marines,” Sgt. Wiley said
as a group of journalists waited
for a barber to arrive to shave
the recruits’ heads.
“I’m not here to send them
home, I’m not here to be cruel to
them in any way, shape, form or
fashion. But I have three
months to make a civilian into a
Marine,” he added.
With the distinctive campaign hats and gruff voices,
nearly everything a drill
instructor says is shouted. That
leaves them horse for up to two
years, accompanied by a withering gaze.
In a time of war this is deadly serious work, and each drill
instructor knows this as he or
she tries to break bad habits
and teach a civilian how to live
up to being addressed as a
United States Marine.
“Look at me right NOW!” the
martial arts senior drill
instructor said, blowing his
whistle and bringing training
to a halt.
“At NO time will you lean
back just like you’re in your
doggone father’s Cadillac! Do
you understand? You will have
an aggressive stance, do you
understand?”
Shawn Curtis, 25, of Crown
Heights, responds: “An awakening, sir, no more playtime, sir,”
recalling his first 24 hours in
the Marine Corps.
“A lot of friends and family
told this recruit that he was
crazy to go and join the
Marines during a time of war,”
he said, referring to himself in
the third person, as all recruits
are supposed to. “I see it as a
time of challenge and a time to
serve my country.”
Curtis, now in his tenth
week of training, was in the
middle of what is called the
Crucible, a grueling 54 hour
endurance test where the
young recruits work together in
teams to accomplish five different tasks using their training.
Eating only four meals and getting just eight hours of sleep,
each recruit depends on the
others to help get them through
when it feels like they can’t go
any further.
If there is one thing a visitor
takes from a trip to Parris
Island it is how much pride
Marines take in being considered the elite of the US military,
a title certainly earned by their
basic training, which is the
longest and most intense of all
the branches. They are the tip of
the spear of US military might
and they know it, none more so
than the drill instructors who
mold these young men.
“There are Marines dying in
Iraq now, and I’ve got to replace
them,” a somber Sgt. Wiley said.
“I have friends that I’ll never
see again and this Marine that
I’ll make in three months is
going to replace him.”
This is the second in a twopart series about Blacks in the
U.S. Marines Corps.
Recruit Steven Anderson of
Lafayette, LA, trains in martial arts.
(Damasp Retes photos)
The Dorothy Dandridge Story
A Marine captain salutes his commanding officer during graduation.
Recruit Steven Anderson of
Lafayette, LA, trains in martial arts.
Yesterday Came Too Soon
Written by Jamal Williams
Creative development by
Dr. Barbara Ann Teer
Starring
Leslie Lewis Sword
At the
National Black Theatre
in association with Jammit Productions.
Playwright Jamal Williams has
crafted an affecting script.
(Variety)
The saga of Dorothy
Dandridge, the bombshell
who grabbed the Hollywood
brass ring in the 1950s with
the title role in Fox's all-black
megamusical "Carmen
Jones," is brought to life stirringly in this one-woman
A recruit has his
head shaved soon
after arriving on
Parris Island.
show. "Yesterday Came Too
Soon" is set backstage at the
faded Dandridge's final
engagement the day before
she was found dead from an
antidepressant overdose.
Her story of triumph and
tragedy thrills audiences.
Address:
National Black Theatre Way
2031 Fifth Avenue
between 125th And 126th St
When:
!!!
UT
LD O7:30 pm on Thursday April 14
~ Gala Opening nightSOat
~ Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm on April 15 and 16
~ SUNDAY MATINEE AT 3:00 PM ON APRIL 17
ONE WEEKEND ONLY!
This is your only chance to see it!!!
A recruit falls behind his unit during the Crucible, a grueling 54
hour exercise all Marines must complete before graduating.
Tickets: $35
Call 212-722-3800
For group sales, call Jackie Jeffries 212 862 2543.